Cannot load DOS,etc.

[Magnum73]

:eek: Hi all,I'm new here and my name is Trish.Anywho,My laptop crashed and it not only says,"Cannot load DOS" but also at other times says,"Non system disk or disk error,replace and strike any key when ready" Can ANYONE help me? I haven't got the foggiest idea what the heck is going on! Thanks all! :( ~~Trish

[Baser-X]

Greetings! Welcome to CTH :)

edit: I'm an idiot today.... Ok either the OS or the hard drive is in bad shape. Can you boot to DOS from the Windows ME boot disk?

[renegade600]

are you able to get into safe mode?

[tomh]

Do you have a data disk in the Floppy drive?

[Magnum73]

Hi,I don't have an official ME boot disk,but I had made a "rescue disk" prior to the crash,but THEN the words "Non system disk or disk error,replace and strike any key when ready." When I do that,the same words just appear and appear. There is no way I can get into safe mode either! Yikes! Is it hard to replace the hard drive?:(

[Strider]

Hi Trish,
Am I reading this right--when you have your rescue disk in the A: drive you get the 'nonsystem disk...' error? If so, can you get to another computer and try the rescue disk in it, to see if it'll boot a known good computer to the A:> prompt?
I'm not convinced (yet) your hard drive is bad.

[Magnum73]

Ah, Strider (More like DUH!) Mesees what thout art getting at. Okay,I finally made ANOTHER boot up disk,this one of 95 since the original system runs off of 95,and I did get a page saying,"Starting windows 95,yeah,yeah,yeah....and then the A: prompt. I haven't the foggiest notion as to the sequence of horsepucky meneeds to type in to get the system up and running again. Does this make any sense? Thanks all! :wave: ~~Trish

[degsy]

when you get to the A: prompt type
sys c:
then press return.
Remove the floppy, reboot and see if it works.

[Magnum73]

Is return the same as enter,I guess? I tried that and it says,"Invalid media type reading drive C,abort,retry,fail? Just shoot me!:dizzy:

[Strider]

Hi Trish,
OK, we've established that your computer will boot with a rescue disk but not from the hard drive--Degsy's suggestion should put the files on the C: drive that allow it to boot. It didn't.
Now I think you've convinced me that the HD is TU. :sad:
Degsy, your conclusions?

[degsy]

Boot up with the floppy and at the prompt type
FDISK
then press return.

If you see this
Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)...........? [Y]
then press return

When in the program choose
4. Display partition information

You should see something like

Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS WINME 10001 FAT32 26%
2 EXT DOS 20003 51%
3 Non-DOS 9076 23%

Total disk space is 39080 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

The Extended DOS Partition contains Logical DOS Drives.
Do you want to display the logical drive information (Y/N)......?[Y]


Press Esc to return to FDISK Options

Important thing is that you see C: 1 and FAT32

If you don't then it means that the partition on your drive is corrupt and you will have to repartition & format the drive.

[Strider]

One small nit with Degsy's suggestion with F-disk: Trish, if you're running 95, you probably will see FAT instead of FAT32. Otherwise, the advice is sound. If somehow your C: drive became completely hashed but not due to a hardware problem with the drive, Degsy's advice will save the drive. You'll have to reinstall everything, though.
HTH,

[Magnum73]

How's about if there is NO Fat,OR fat32? Hmm.. here is what I see on this piece of s***,I mean machine...

Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
1 A NON-DOS 1151 0 100
%C : 2 PRI DO S 204 5UNKNOWN 18
% 3 EXT DO S 550 8UNKNOWN 48
%
Total disk space is 1151 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

The Extended DOS Partition contains Logical DOS Drives.
Do you want to display the logical drive information (Y/N)......?[Y]


Press Esc to return to FDISK Options
I typed it here on the desktop pC as it is on my laptop,THEN when I hit Y,ENTER, I see this...
:eek:
No,I really see this.....
Display Logical DOS Drive Information
DRV Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
D: 2045 UNKNOWN 37%
E: 2045 UNKNOWN 37%

Total Extended DOS Partition size is 5508 Mbytes (1 MByte =1048576 bytes)
Press EXPLODE to continue ;)
Any ideas???? Yikes!

[degsy]

Unfortunately, your partition is corrupted.
You will have to re-partition, format then install.

You will loose all data.

[Magnum73]

:wave: Hi all, I was a good girl and did what ya's said,and now this is what I have:

Display Partition Information
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS COMPAQPRESA 2045 FAT16 18%
2 EXT DOS 5508 48%

Then>>>>>

Display Logical DOS Drive Information
Drv Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
D: 2045 Unknown 37%
E: 2045 Unknown 37%
F: 1425 Unknown 26%
Total Extended DOS Partition size is 5508 Mbytes

Also,at bootup,Windows flashes for a second (the OS blue with windows logo) as the system says,"Starting Windows 95,yeah,yeah,etc.
so i finally gets to THIS POINT C:\>A: (because my system says that A-current drive is no longer valid>
then,I put in C:\>sys c:
system transferred
then A:\>
ANY clues as to what I do now??? Thanks all,Trish :rotflmao:

[Strider]

:wave:
<snip>
ANY clues as to what I do now??? Thanks all,Trish :rotflmao:
Welcome back.
I'm just acknowledging that I'm watching this thread, Trish. I'll wait a bit and see if Degsy pops back in. He's more familiar with this than I. If we don't see him in a while, I'll give it a go...

[degsy]

Now you've got me confused :laugh:

You are trying to install Windows ME?
When you have been using a floppy bootdisk have you been using a Windows 95 bootdisk?


This is an important point:
Do you want to try to install from this point or is it OK to Partition & Format your harddrive. This would mean wiping the drive of all current data.

[Magnum73]

Okay,Smackhead me had been using a 95 bootdisk from bootdisk.com,because the original owner told me that the system booted from 95. Now,his "restore CD" says Windows 95 and ME, and before this thing crashed,I was utilizing ME,sssoooo,..I went back to bootdisk.com and made a ME bootdisk,and I'll try that tonight. Yes,I was attempting to reinstall ME,but since I have no experience with this stuff,I assumed I had to repartition and reformat and then reinstall.Hmm, I'll let ya's know tonight, and I appreciate all of this ! Thanks Strider for checking in, Lord knows I need the watching!!! :rotflmao:

[Magnum73]

Hi guys, I have been working on this thang,and I did that repartition and reformat with the 95 bootdisk again,and I put windows 95 CD in and all I get is Non system disk,press any key to continue. This is an original 95 CD so I haven't a clue as to what the story is here? Am I missing a CD driver? Should I "do" a windows 98 bootdisk,and start all over because everybody seems to like that bootdisk the best? Thanks all,and God Bless! Oh,and I hope you guys and dolls are having it warm where you're at because it got up to 85 here in Michigan last week,yet it is actually snowing right now! ~~Trish:eek:

[degsy]

You are almost there.

The problem is that Windows 95 CD is not Bootable.
The Windows 95 Startup disk does not contain CD Drivers.


download the exe file and run it and it will create the floppy disk
http://files.frashii.com/~bootdisk/file02/boot98c.exe
(it will set your CD-ROM drive as drive R)

Boot from the Floppy Disk until you get to the A:\> prompt.
Insert the Windows 95 CD and type
r:\setup.exe
then press enter

this should start the setup.

[Magnum73]

Okay--all I have gotten after working on this frigger all of this time is a message saying that installation can not continue because setup found a compressed volume or a disk cache utilty that needs to be removed first. also , I have gotten messages about HPFS or NT or a super something that compresses . How do I uncompress that volume and/or remove the cache utilty so I can install?? Thanks all! ~~~Trish:upset:

[Magnum73]

When I go to >>> Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 6910 FAT32 60%
2 EXT DOS 2303 20%

Total disk space is 11510 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

The Extended DOS Partition contains Logical DOS Drives.
Do you want to display the logical drive information (Y/N)......?[Y]


Press Esc to return to FDISK Options
There is no Non-Dos information there,don't understand!

[Strider]

Hi Trish--welcome back :)
If you were running Windoze ME 'before' there shouldn't be an NTFS partition on either the primary DOS or extended DOS partition. I'm wondering about some kind of disk manufacturer's utility that allows older systems to 'see' the whole hard drive.
Degsy asked a while back if you were going to reformat your drive. Are you or have you done that? A reformat might get rid of whatever the installation routine is choking on.

[Magnum73]

Yup, I have reformatted, and I still can't get the 95 to load right. Once I got an error while trying to install the windows disc and it said,"error SU-0013 " something about HPFS, and NT whatever that all means.

[AnnMarie]

Setup Found a Compressed Volume or a Disk-Cache Utility (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=166466)

[Strider]

Hi Trish,
I followed Ann-Marie's link to the M$ knowledge base. Whatever OS you're trying to load--ME, 95, 98... Use a bootdisk for that version. So if you're trying to install Windows Millenium, use a Millenium boot disk. Format your C: drive. You can use FAT32; it's a little more space efficient than FAT16. Then install Millenium. See if that cures the errors.
HTH,

[Magnum73]

Thanks, I'll be working on it shortly,I did read that article already. The reason I have to grab time here and there is because my daughter is graduating from HS and I have 4 other kids up my arse, if ya catch my drift! Plus,I work, yikes! I'll reply asap. Het Strider,what does HTH mean, anyways????:baby:

[Strider]

what does HTH mean, anyways????:baby:
Hope this helps.

[Magnum73]

Oh, okay, the PC lingo has escaped me ,but I am learning slowly. Okay--I have 95 installed, but it won't go out of safe mode, isn't there a place to go into the device manager or some file and switch the 1 to 0 to stay out of safe mode? Thanks and I can hear you laughing!!!! :redface: ~~Trish :dizzy:

[Strider]

Hi Trish,
I don't know of anywhere that you can set Win 95 to stay out of safe mode.
Are you saying that every time you power on, Win 95 boots into safe mode without asking you? That implies that Windows thinks there is a problem. Are there any yellow exclamation points or red x's in Device Manager, or any sort of message from Windows while it's booting?

[Magnum73]

:wave: Hi Guys and Dolls--I know I'm rather late here--but what with graduation,vaca,the like...well you all know how all of that goes! I reread and reread ALL of your posts,did exactly as you all said, and EVERYTHING is fine and dandy here! It took many tries,but I got to tell you all that this is the easiest to understand tech forum for "newbies", such as myself,and I deeply appreciate you all helping me as well as thousands of hardware Hades victims out there. I have noticed that we are ALL learning from the various threads and it is amazing that you guys can get through to people like me who aren't, shall we say, technically inclined? Thanks again and GodSpeed to ya all. Hope ya don't mind,but I refer people to your site also. Bye for now!!!~~Trish :wave:

[AnnMarie]

Glad all is well Trish and thanks for updating us. :D